Pakistan government has abandoned plans to
amend the country's blasphemy law following protests in its capital Islamabad
that left the city paralyzed for almost four days.

The Sunni Tehreek group descended on the
capital on Sunday, March 27, to denounce the hanging of police officer Mumtaz Qadri for
the 2011 murder of Governor Salman Taseer.

Hundreds of protesters
rallied for days in Islamabad before ending their sit-in on Wednesday after
gathering assurances from the government.

"The government
assured the protesters that it had no plans to amend the blasphemy laws. We are
also not going to pardon anyone convicted by courts for blasphemy,"
Railway Minister Saad Rafique said, who took part in talks with the protest
leaders.

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One of the main demands of the demonstrators
was government assurances that the blasphemy laws will not be amended.

According to Al Jazeera the
protesters were saying that it was a victory for them since they are able to
put Pakistan blasphemy law back on the national agenda.

Salman Taseer had enraged many by describing
Pakistan's blasphemy legislation as a "black law".

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Supreme
Court calls forimprovements
in blasphemy law

In Oct 2015, Pakistan's Supreme Court upheld
the Oct 1, 2011 capital sentence given by an anti-terrorism court to Malik
Mohammad Mumtaz Qadri. The judgment said that blasphemy was abhorrent and
immoral, besides being a manifestation of intolerance, but a false allegation
is equally detestable as well as culpable.

The Supreme Court called
for improvements in the blasphemy law in order to provide safeguards against
its misuse by leveling false allegations should not be considered
objectionable. It
is an unfortunate fact, which cannot be disputed, that in many cases registered
in respect of blasphemy offence, false allegations are leveled for extraneous
purposes. And in the absence of adequate safeguards against misapplication or
misuse of such law by motivated persons the persons falsely accused of that
offence suffer beyond proportion or repair, the verdict said.

Pakistan's
blasphemy laws actually draw from the Indian Penal code of 1860, created by the
British colonial rulers of the time. The original laws included a list of
crimes which were composed of - among other things - disturbing a
religious assembly, trespassing on burial grounds, insulting religious beliefs
and intentionally destroying or desecrating a place or an object of
worship. These laws also created a punishment, ranging from 1-10 years in jail,
with or without a fine. Pakistan inherited these laws when the country was
created in 1947 and several clauses were added between1980-1986, which was
during the regime of military dictator General Zia ul Haq. These added clauses
included the "crimes" of desecrating the Quran and insulting the Prophet
Muhammad.

However, any changes in the law is a very
sensitive issue in Pakistan. In
February 2011, Pakistan People's Party Member of Parliament, Sherry Rehman,
withdrew her attempt to amend the laws after receiving numerous death threats. Her
bill called
for an end to the death penalty under the
existing blasphemy laws.

Qadri
was convicted and sentenced to death in October 2011. But he is viewed as a
hero by many people who thought Taseer was a blasphemer. The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Syed Pervez
Ali Shah, who awarded death sentence to Qadri was forced to flee the country
after receiving death threats.

Mumtaz
Qadri hanged

Mumtaz Qadri was hanged on
February 29, 2016 at Adiala Jail near Islamabad/Rawalpindi. Islamabad Bar Association called his hanging a judicial
murder and observed a"black day". Okara
Bar Association observed a strike in
the district complex to protest the hanging. No lawyer attended any court.

Author and journalist.
Author of
Islamic Pakistan: Illusions & Reality;
Islam in the Post-Cold War Era;
Islam & Modernism;
Islam & Muslims in the Post-9/11 America.
Currently working as free lance journalist.
Executive Editor of American (more...)